Children in the Trash
by Cehsja
Summary: When a Permian-erad anomaly opens up at a landfill, Sarah, Danny and Abby rush to the rescue.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **  
**As some of you know, I am super good friends in real life with another author here, SveaR. We usually tend to have a lot in common (other than the fact that we live on different continents, which is decidedly inconvenient at times). So much so that we often seem to read each other's minds on things. SO... when we both emailed each other the first chapter of our new stories, we shouldn't have been surprised one bit at the one major element of similarity. We wrote these without consulting each other and neither are a copy of the others. The plots and pairings are different so we really hope that you read and enjoy both anyway :) **

* * *

"I hate the snow," Sarah complained to Danny as she snapped closed her seatbelt buckle.

Danny glanced at her from the driver's seat as he started the car. "S'not so bad, but I could live without it too."

"It looks pretty enough," Sarah expanded on her thought, "but I get so nervous when we have to drive in it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sarah, you get nervous in the car whether there's snow or not."

"I don't: unless I'm with you. _Your _driving freaks me out a bit."

"Hey!"

"And now _you're _driving in the _snow _and I'm feeling pretty petrified."

"There is _nothing _wrong with my driving."

"Not if you have a death wish, no. _Danny! Watch the road!" _

Danny swerved quickly to avoid the car turning right across his path and then skidded on some ice, sending them bonnet first into a ditch. The sunroof and windshield both shattered upon impact. He cursed under his breath and immediately looked to Sarah to make sure she was okay. She looked a bit shaken up, but seemed otherwise fine and even managed to give him a weak smile. "I wasn't implying that _I _have a death wish, Danny. No need to help me out with it."

"Sorry," he grinned back at her, trying to make the best of a bad situation. "I guess I misunderstood." He undid his seatbelt and tried to open his door, but it wouldn't budge. "Guess I'm crawling out your side then," he muttered.

Sarah suddenly let out a gasp as she undid her own belt and for a moment he thought she was hurt after all, but then she cried out, "Danny, you're bleeding!"

"I am? Where?" he asked, relieved that she was fine. She slid closer to him and gently touched his ear, bending the tip forward so she could assess the cut. Danny closed his eyes, not in pain, it was too numb to hurt actually, but in pleasure at her closeness. One of these days the brave, fearless team leader part of him would summon up the courage to ask her out, he promised himself.

Out loud he asked, "My ear? How'd I hit that?"

Sarah nodded, "I don't think you did. Glass from the windshield is my guess. It's not deep though and I don't see any glass still in it."

Danny opened his eyes again and turned to smile at her. "So what's the prognosis? Do I live?"

Sarah sat back again with a grin, "For now, provided you stop driving in the snow."

"Wasn't my fault she cut me off. She could have waited until it was clear, and there's not even another car on the road!"

Sarah glanced around through the side windows and frowned, "Would also have been nice if she'd stopped to see if we were okay. Witch!" She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone to call the ARC.

* * *

"Where the hell are they?" Danny grumbled over an hour later. "It's bloody freezing out here!"

"You're kidding," Sarah responded sarcastically, her teeth chattering. "I hadn't noticed."

Danny glanced at Sarah where she stood leaning against the car and stomping her feet to keep warm. He silently slipped off his coat and put it over her shoulders. "Sorry."

She smiled at him and inched closer and Danny took the hint, pulling her against himself in an attempt to keep them both warm.

* * *

Five minutes later one of the ARC vehicles finally pulled up and Connor hopped out with a cheerful whistle. "Hop in, Guys!" he grinned at them both. "Sorry I'm late. There was a bit of a crisis at the ARC involving Sid and Christine Johnson and then me and Abby got in trouble for laughing too much which wasn't in the slightest bit fair because we _know _Lester found it funny too and…"

"Shut up, Temple!" Danny ordered, "Sarah and I are soaked and freezing and I've gotta bleeding ear apparently. We'd really like to warm up _before _we hear what Sid did."

"Right," Connor nodded, looking slightly sheepish. "To the ARC then?"

"Or preferably somewhere tropical," Sarah muttered as Danny helped her in.

* * *

Sarah had changed into a spare dark blue and tan shirt and skirt set she kept at the ARC and she was still blow drying her hair when the anomaly alert alarms started going off again. She groaned as she switched off the hairdryer and made her way to the ADD. Danny was already there, also donning clean dry clothing and looking like he was still freezing. His hair was still damp too, Sarah noted. If the anomaly was outside they were both going to freeze.

Connor was still trying to pull up the co-ordinates and for some reason it seemed to be taking him longer than usual. He mumbled incoherently at the screen. Finally when it seemed he wasn't actually doing _anything, _Lester cleared his throat and spoke. "Well?"

Connor read out the co-ordinates and then glanced up at the rest of the group and added bluntly, "That's in India."

* * *

"India? As in the country India?" Abby asked after a moment of stunned silence. She moved behind Connor, putting a hand on his shoulder as she leaned over him to view the computer screen for herself.

Connor nodded as his fingers flew along the keyboard once more, searching for security cameras that he could hack into.

Lester turned away. "Good, not our problem then. Now, would someone please shut off that blasted alarm so I can have some peace and quiet?"

"We can't just ignore it!" Abby protested.

"And why not?" Lester grumbled unhappily.

"Because they don't know what to do is why. They might start killing creatures for no reason!"

"Or messing with timelines," Jenny put in. "I, for one, am quite content with who I am and don't need to turn back into Claudia Brown or someone else all together."

"You'd never know if you did," Connor pointed out.

Danny hesitated and then said, "Well we can't just send a full team over across the world. What if an anomaly opens up here in the meantime?"

"Finally some sense," Lester responded. "If you wanna tell them how to deal with it, Abby, I'll find you a phone number."

Abby opened her mouth to reply, but the images that suddenly popped up on the screen from the camera that Connor had found left everyone rendered suddenly speechless. The anomaly seemed to be in the middle of a large landfill. About a dozen bright green lizards were soaring and diving in the air and a lone giant of a dinosaur stood still, almost camouflaged against the mountains of trash and dust.

"Coelurosauravus and scutosaurus," Connor said quickly. "Anomaly must lead to the Permian. Hopefully there's no gorgonopsids in the area, but we've got to get that closed."

Sarah wasn't looking at the dinosaurs though. Her eyes, as well as those of the rest of the team, were focused on the group of barefooted children dressed in rags chasing happily after the flying lizards and paying no heed to the trash surrounding them. After a long period of silence, Danny finally cleared his throat and asked, "How the hell are we gonna round up the flying ones?"

Lester coughed, "Who said you were going to?"

"Someone has to lock it. Connor's right about that. I'm not saying send everyone but the sooner we can get there the less chance there is of something carnivorous coming through. I'll go for sure. I've spent the afternoon freezing in the snow and blimey if it doesn't look hot and sunny there. I'll take a couple of Becker's soldiers with me and perhaps Sarah, if you like," he directed the last part of this towards her. "After all, you were the one talking about tropical weather weren't you?"

Lester glanced at Sarah, "And what's she going to be doing?"

"I can work the locking device," Sarah said quickly. "I would like to go."

"Fine," Lester finally consented with another glance at the screen. "Take Abby too. She can help you with the behavioural patterns of anything that comes through and probably has the most experience with chasing after the flying kind."

"Okay," Danny agreed.

"Can Connor come?" Abby asked hopefully and Danny saw the grateful look that Connor threw her way, but he shook his head.

"Not this time, I'm sorry. There's a good chance you'll be needed here." He felt bad when he saw the crestfallen expression on Connor's face. Abby glared at him and he shot her a look of apologetic understanding.

Abby turned away then, wrapping both her arms around Connor's neck and Connor seemed to cheer up visibly at that. "S'okay, Abs," he said. "Danny and Lester are right. We can't all go. Becker, Jenny 'n me will stay here and hold down the fort, yeah? Anyway, one of us has to look after the pets."

"Do you want me to stay too?" she asked him and Connor shook his head. "No! You want to go, Abs. I know you do. Just, stay safe, okay?"

Abby nodded and Lester glanced at her, "And Abby. Please don't bring any more pets home!"

"We'll see," was the only promise Abby granted him. "Rex _could _do with a playmate."

"Or you could return him," Becker pointed out, earning glares from both Connor and Abby.

"Never!" Connor spoke vehemently. "Rex _was _returned once and he chose to come back on his own. He's used to being fed and all by now. He needs his mum and dad."

Jenny started to say something in response, but she was interrupted by Sarah and the team never found out whose side she was going to take.

"I know her!"

"Who?" Danny asked, puzzled.

Sarah pointed to one of the children on the screen, a girl of about ten years. "Her! That's my Kajal!"

* * *

Everyone turned to look at Sarah.

"You can't possibly," Connor protested. "Sarah, the picture is grainy and faded and there's over a billion people living in India. The chances of you recognizing someone you know are miniscule, impossible really."

"I don't care about the odds or the grainy picture," Sarah retorted. "I know it's her. I just do!"

The rest of the team gave her the same doubtful look that Connor was, but they kept their mouths shut.

"Her name's Kajal," Sarah insisted. "She's got two brothers. Eby is a year older than her and Mukesh is two years younger. Please, we have to go now. Nothing can happen to her. I love that girl more than life itself. Please!"

"Right," Danny muttered, more than a little confused. "Let's go then. Lester can you have a private jet made ready for us?"

Lester stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Yes and I suppose you want a limo to the airport too?"

"Just the jet," Danny responded without missing a beat. "I'll drive."

"To hell you will," Sarah said, her attention snapping away from the screen finally. She snatched Danny's keys from his shirt pocket before he could react. "I'm getting to my Kajal in one piece, thank-you very much."

* * *

A few hours later Danny watched Sarah as she stared out the window during take off. He was sat beside her and one of the soldiers, a man known as Wilcock sat on his other side. Abby and the other soldier named Hemple sat just behind them. Wilcock was currently leaning over the seat to discuss something with Hemple and Abby was texting someone, probably Connor, but Danny paid no heed to any of them. Sarah's hand was clutching tight to a brick red binder she'd brought with her and Danny wondered vaguely what was in it, but more than the binder itself he noticed the way her knuckles had turned white. Despite the fact that she got scared every time she got in a car, at least when he was behind the wheel apparently, he had a feeling that her anxiety this time had nothing to do with the flight. She was worried about this little girl still. He wondered if it was at all possible that she was right about the child's identity. He wouldn't have thought so, the video had been so unclear he wasn't sure he'd have recognized his own mother, but she seemed so certain that he found himself believing her.

"Sarah?" he questioned gently. She turned to him so he continued. "How do you know her?"

"Kajal?"

"Yeah. I mean, it seems rather random, don't you think? She's some poor kid on the other side of the world. How did you meet her?"

"I sponsor her through one of those charities that help poor kids and their families."

"Oh," he responded. He thought about it for a moment and then said again, "My aunt did that. When Patrick went missing she sponsored some kid in South America somewhere with the same name as a tribute to him. My mum hated it, said it was like Aunt Penny was trying to replace my brother."

"What did you think?"

"To be honest, I never thought much about it either way. It didn't bother me like it did my mum. I guess I'd have found it odd if she'd named her own kid Patrick or something, but this boy already had that name so…" he broke off with a shrug.

"Does she still sponsor him?"

Danny shook his head, "No, he got too old or something. They sent her another kid but I couldn't even pronounce the new kid's name, let alone remember it. That kid might be too old now too, haven't seen my aunt in years. No idea if she still does that sorta stuff."

"How old was he when you last saw her?"

Danny shrugged again, "I dunno."

"Oh."

He hesitated a moment and then said, "She didn't actually "know" the kids though. She just got a report about them and a photo each year or so and that's about it. She wouldn't have recognized him if she'd seen him in person, let alone on a fuzzy video."

Sarah glared at him and Danny quickly continued before he got himself into her bad books, "I'm not saying you're wrong, Sare. I'm just wondering how you can be so sure it's her."

Her expression softened a bit. "We're quite close, Kajal and I. She's like a long distance daughter to me and she sends me loads of extra photos. I just, I just have this really special bond with her, you know? I know it's her."

She hesitated and then suddenly passed Danny the binder. He gave her a questioning look before opening it. Inside were years and years worth of letters and pictures from the young girl. He flipped to the end to find the most recent picture of her and stared at it, trying to see if he could recognize her. It _did _look like the girl in the video, but he knew there was no way he could really tell if the playful child running through the trash dump was the same one as the one standing stiffly in front of a tin wall. He browsed through the letters, reading them. Kajal did seem to admire Sarah a lot, he thought as he read the child's words to her. But then again, how could one _not _admire Sarah? She _was _pretty amazing. He glanced up at her and saw that she was watching him, scrutinizing him as if trying to see what he thought of the letters.

"These _are _pretty cool," he said smiling at her. "I wonder why Patrick or what's-his-name never wrote to my Aunt Penny like this."

"Did you aunt ever write to them?"

Danny wrinkled his forehead as if the idea had never occurred to him before and then shook his head, "No, I guess she didn't."

Sarah gave him an amused look, "Well then…"

"I suppose you have a point," he chuckled, handing her back her binder. He glanced at his watch and then leaned back in his seat. "It's a long flight, Sare and we've gotta be on our game when we get there. Get some sleep."

**A/N: This story is dedicated to my own beautiful children in India... Kajal, Eby and Mukesh (Who are not siblings in real life). If you want to see pictures of them, go to my blog (Link on my profile)**


	2. Chapter 2

Danny must have been more tired than he thought. It wasn't until the plane started to descend over the hot tarmac of an isolated Indian runway that his eyes opened again, and he took a moment to gather his surroundings. Abby was chatting with Hemple quietly in the back seat and Sarah was sleeping still, her head resting upon Danny's shoulder. Wilcock was reading what looked to be magazine about collector's guns. Danny turned his attention back to the woman leaning against him. He smiled and gently ran his finger along her forearm where it rested on the armrest between them. He was tempted to kiss her forehead, but resisted because Wilcock was still there beside them and he didn't want to get caught.

It was a shame to wake her, he decided, but as the plane touched down he knew he had to.

"Sarah," he whispered to her. "We're here."

She stirred at her name and her eyes fluttered open. She stared at him, puzzled for a moment before realising where they were, and then blushed as she sat up. "Sorry."

It was Danny's turned to be puzzled. "For what?"

"Using you as a pillow."

Danny chuckled quietly. "If I'd been awake, I'd have enjoyed it. As it stands, I didn't notice until a moment ago, so you've _really _nothing to apologize for."

Wilcock put his magazine into a bag and glanced at them both. " 'Bout time you both woke up. You _both _make for exceptionally boring seatmates."

"You should've slept too," Danny retorted as he stood up and stretched his legs. "I don't want anyone sleeping on the job out there."

"Never could sleep on a moving plane," Wilcock shrugged, "And even if I could, Abby and Hemple were being too loud. Not sure how you two _did _sleep."

"Been a long day," Sarah replied quietly, thinking it seemed like much longer than the mere eleven hours it had been since her and Danny's car crash in the snow. She joined Danny in standing and soon the entire team found themselves stepping out of the plane and onto a metal ramp in the sun as they descended dazedly from the aircraft.

* * *

The weather here wasn't just hot, it was humid. They hurried off the metal ramp that burned them with it's reflection of heat even when they were careful not to touch the handrail. Vapours seemed to rise up out of the black tarmac creating almost invisible waves that frustrated their eyes and the team found the air to be thick and stifling. They'd barely made it a quarter of the way across the short runway and already they were perspiring.

Danny turned to Sarah with a teasing grin, "So, warmed up yet?"

She nodded, too hot to even voice a reply and contrary to her thoughts a couple of hours ago, a bit of snow suddenly didn't seem so bad. She wondered how her Kajal managed to live in these conditions day after day. Surely they had a colder season to, but she'd never felt humidity like this in England. The heat made her feel sluggish and slow and somehow it even made her bag feel heavier. She didn't know _how _Hemple and Wilcock were managing while dressed in all black. She could see that their tee-shirts were already soaked with sweat, but they didn't look at all phased.

Abby was dressed the best for the weather in her loose, thin-matrialled white tank top and jean shorts. Plus she'd actually thought to bring a water bottle and Sarah envied it greatly. She'd been so caught up in thinking about Kajal that she'd not really planned for the weather. Her clothing was fine actually, a beige flared skirt that fell about mid-shin and a black tank-top, but if she'd have been thinking she'd definitely had brought water and a wide-brimmed hat as well.

She glanced at Danny and saw that he had a water bottle too and, when he saw her looking, he offered it graciously to her. Sarah grinned and accepted, downing a large gulp of the lukewarm water in relief. "Thanks," she said, the liquid refreshing her enough that she could speak again.

He grinned at her as he took the bottle back and chugged a bit more of the water down himself before answering, "No worries, can't have anyone passing out from heatstroke, can I? Want some more?"

Sarah nodded gratefully and took a few more sips, being careful not to use up too much of Danny's water before handing it back. He took one more gulp himself before wiggling his eyebrows teasingly at her. "You wanna know an even better way to keep cool?"

Before Sarah could guess what he was up to, he'd dumped the rest of the water bottle over the top of her head. Sarah shrieked, earning them both a couple of amused glances from Abby and the soldiers, and swatted at him, but she was too hot to give him proper chase and she had to admit that the water clinging to her hair did feel terrific.

"I'll get you back when we get somewhere air conditioned," she promised.

"Oi! I'se just trying to help out," he grinned at her.

"Just because I enjoyed it, doesn't mean I don't get to have revenge," she teased.

Danny just smiled at her, thinking that he was looking forward to it.

* * *

The group checked into the hotel Lester had booked for them before heading to the anomaly, mainly because they needed to refill their water bottles and get rid of all the items they were carrying so that they could be more efficient in chasing the dinosaurs. His own room was at the end of the hallway, he found, and Hemple and Wilcock had the room next door. Sarah and Abby checked into the room on the other side of the soldiers'. Danny filled his water bottle to the brim with cold water and then drank heartily from it, trying not to reflect too hard on the fact that Sarah's lips had been touching the same rim. It didn't work, he was still thinking about it. A knock came on the door and he found the subject of his decidedly juvenile thoughts standing on the other end with a smile.

He stepped aside to let her in. "Hey," he greeted her. "You got the locking device ready?"

She shook her head. "Hemple has it. I can work it, but that think is _heavy!" _

She plopped down on his bed, placing her backpack beside her. "You don't mind, do you, if I just hang out here until everyone's ready to leave? Abby's chatting with Connor on the phone and I feel like I'm eavesdropping. Tad awkward."

He smiled at her sympathetically, "Lemme guess, she gave him a lecture about letting the animals out and then they nervously talked circles around each other, trying to tell each other how much they were missing each other without using words."

"Well duh," she smirked at him. "It's painful to listen to."

Danny nodded his agreement as he plopped down beside her, but thought secretly to himself that he wasn't much better than the two of them when it came to his feelings for Sarah, just better at hiding it, maybe. He made a vow to himself that it was _not _going to take years for him to ask her out and that he and Sarah would never be the subjects of such similar mocking behind their backs.

"Well, I hate to do this to you," he said out loud, "but I'm afraid I have to make a phone call before we leave too."

Sarah groaned and started to stand up with a sigh, but Danny caught her elbow and tugged at her. "Not a personal one, you're welcome to stay, just didn't want you to think I'm being rude. I have to call the ARC and find out the co-ordinates of the trash dump this thing opened up at and find out if it's still open."

"Good luck with that."

"What'dya mean?"

"Connor's the one manning the ADD right now and he's still on the phone with Abby."

It was Danny's turn to stand and leave the room, telling Sarah he'd be right back, as he stormed down the hall to find Abby and order her to hang up.

* * *

It was an hour later before they reached the landfill. The anomaly was still open, to everyone's relief, but Danny really worried about how they planned to round up all the coelurosauravus and he was even more concerned about the possibility of a gorgonopsid coming through. It was getting dark out now and Danny wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was good because the air had cooled a bit now that the sun was hiding behind the horizon, and because the children they'd seen from the CCTV had gone indoors and he didn't have to worry about them hanging around anymore. It was bad because it made his job of searching for the prehistoric visitors even harder. Either way, good or bad, there was nothing he could do about it, so he decided not to dwell on the matter for too long.

He glanced at Sarah and saw the look of silent disappointment on her face. He knew what she was thinking, she was hoping her girl would still be here. He knew it was crazy, that the possibility of it actually being _her _girl were slim, but he was convinced because she was and he found himself moving a step back to be at her side. "It's better," he whispered to her, "if she's not here. We don't know what else could come through."

Sarah turned to him, surprise written on her face that he'd read her so fast, but she didn't deny her thoughts. "I know," she replied, "but I so wanted to see her. I just… I love her you know. It almost hurts to be so close and _not _be able give her a big hug."

Danny smiled at her, "Then we'll make sure we find her before we leave, Sare, after the dinosaurs are through. We'll stay til we find her."

"Really?" she questioned, a look of amazement lighting up her eyes. "You'd do that for me?"

" 'Course, Sare, promise." He hesitated and then draped an arm over her shoulders, "In the meantime, you could always give me that hug."

Sarah laughed, but she also wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a quick squeeze before quickly pulling away again.

"There's one!" Abby's voice suddenly interrupted their thoughts about each other as they followed her pointing finger to see the bright green lizard soaring softly into a tree.

"Alright, Abs," Danny said approaching her. "This is your specialty. How do we get them?"

"Won't be easy," she replied, "but we could make use of some fruit. Rex's favourite are apples. We might be able to tempt a few down. Anyone have some?"

No one did and Danny was going to send Hemple into the marketplace to get some, but he knew it'd be shut down at this time of day.

"Sorry," Abby apologized. "I should have thought to bring some earlier, but I guess the heat was getting to me."

"Or the separation from Connor," Danny teased and to Abby's embarrassment, even the soldiers failed to completely stifle their chuckles at her expense.

"Oh, shut up, everyone," she ordered, stamping her foot a bit, her face flushed, but then she grinned herself and retorted back at Danny, "It's not like you'd be any different if you didn't have Sarah at your side."

Danny frowned. Were his feelings really that obvious? Maybe he'd misjudged how well he'd been hiding them. He glanced at Sarah to see if she'd heard and the surprised expression frozen on her face as she stared at him told him that she had. He gave Abby a glare, even though he knew he'd deserved the remark, as he grumbled digruntedly, "Watch it, Abigail, or I'll throw _you _back through the anomaly with all the lizards."

Then he quickly changed the subject as he turned to the rest of the team and took charge, "Hemple, take Sarah to the anomaly and set up the Locking Device. I want you two to get that thing locked and stay on guard ready to open it again as we bring the creatures to you. Wilcock, Abby, you're with me. We'll scan this area for the creatures. We need to find and catch these things, preferably before the anomaly closes."

Everyone nodded and moved to do their jobs. As they separated, Abby sidled up to Danny and whispered an apology to him. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that in front of her."

"It's fine, Abby. If we're going for honesty, I don't plan on dancing around my feelings for Sarah nearly as long as you and Connor have anyways. If she knows, she knows. Maybe not the way I'd planned on her finding out, but I don't know what my plan was so…" he shrugged.

"Least you're not denying it."

"Didn't seem like there was much point. Now, are we going to talk about our feelings all night, or are you going to follow orders and help get these creatures home?"

Abby grinned and moved off to scan the trees at the edge of the landfill, leaving Danny to search and think on his own.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Because I've had a few people asking me about Hemple and Wilcock, they are both soldiers that I borrowed from the Primeval book series, so no, they do not belong to me. PS: Can you spot the New World Reference? :p  
**

Sarah fiddled absentmindedly with the anomaly locking device for a bit, her mind wandering as she did. She imagined over and over again her meeting with her little girl and what it'd be like to finally hold her. She wondered if Kajal would immediately recognize her and if she'd be shy. She wondered if they'd be able to understand each other. She knew that Kajal was learning English in school, and judging by her letters she was quite good at it, but she wasn't sure how much help she had with the writing or how strong an accent she'd have or if she spoke the language as well as she wrote it.

She'd been so disappointed that Kajal wasn't still here so that she could hug her immediately, that she could've cried and it was only the presence of the team that had held her back, but Danny'd been right and he'd promised her they could stay and find the girl after. _Danny. _Sarah's thoughts had been so far gone on Kajal that she really couldn't be one hundred percent certain she'd properly understood Abby's accusation, but it sure'd sounded to her like Abby'd said _something _about Danny having _some _sort of feelings for Sarah, in a round about way, some sort of special attachment to her above the others at the very least. She didn't know what to make of that one and she didn't want to dwell on it until she could ask Danny what Abby'd meant, but she couldn't deny warm happiness that threatened to creep over her at the thought. For now though, she had more important issues to think about, such as the fact that Hemple was trying to get her attention.

"Sorry," Sarah said, blushing. "I'd zoned out for a moment there."

"Clearly," the soldier responded. "Your phone was ringing."

Sarah quickly fished her mobile from her purse and found she'd missed two calls from Danny, but before she call him back, the phone started ringing again.

"Hi, sorry," she answered, knowing it'd be him.

"What's going on over there, Sare?" Danny answered, sounding concerned.

"Nothing, I didn't hear it ring. Sorry. You guys okay?"

"Define okay. No injuries and we've caught two of the Rex look-alikes, but I figured I'd give you a warning that Abby and Wilcock are headed your way and they are _not,_ I repeat, _not _happy."

"What's wrong?"

"They wouldn't be coaxed down, so Wilcock tranquilized them. Abby is mad with a capital M. Says they are little and defenceless if they can't fly and we can't put them back through until they wake up. Wilcock says we've got to get as many back through as quickly as possible in case it closes and that if Abby was catching them some other way he wouldn't have to resort to tranquilizing them. Abby wants to wait until they wake up again, but there's no guarantee the anomaly will last that long and she's no where to contain them to prevent them flying away again."

"So you side with Wilcock?"

"Maybe slightly, the dosage was small, they won't be out long and there's loads more to catch. To be honest I don't care much, but I don't want any delays. There's been no sign of the scutosaurus yet. Abby's madder than she'd normally be, separation anxiety or something."

"From Connor or Rex?"

"Who knows? Both probably."

"So should I open the anomaly for Wilcock to put them through?" Sarah asked, suddenly anxious as the two angry subjects of conversation stomping into view.

"Your call."

"No way, you're team leader."

"At the moment I'm leaning towards opening it and putting Wilcock and Abby through."

"_Da-nny!" _she protested his teasing, but as Wilcock and Abby came closer she was tempted to do the same. "Seriously, though…"

"Open it," Danny gave her the order. "I need them back here to catch the rest, unless _you _want to babysit them."

"Right, they're here, bye Danny," Sarah said quickly as she hung up the phone.

"_Don't you dare open that anomaly, Sarah Page!" _Abby shouted at her, pretty much in her ear.

Sarah gave her a look, "Ow, Abs, angry at me already are you?"

"If there's a gorgonopsid on the other side, these lizards will have _no _way of defending themselves."

Hemple stared at both of them, clearly trying to figure out what the problem was. "Don't we put tranquilized creatures back through all the time?" he asked.

"_Yes! _Thank-you!" Wilcock exclaimed.

"Abby," Sarah said gently, "He's right. We've never had a problem with it before. _You've _never had a problem with it before."

Abby glared at them all in turn. "Well, maybe we've been wrong! What if we put it back and it gets eaten before it can fly again and it's great-great-grandbaby coelurosauruvus never gets born and it never eats a bug that eats a snake that evolves into a mammal and suddenly we all don't exist?"

Hemple's eyebrow shot up. "Did you just say a bug ate a snake?"

Abby stomped her foot, annoyed at the teasing. "Really?That's what you got from all that?"

Sarah sighed and stepped between them. "Guys! Knock it off! Wilcock, give me the lizards."

He did so, gladly handing over the two unconscious reptiles while Abby lectured him on the careful handling of them, though Sarah noted to herself that he already _was _being gentle. "Thanks," she told the soldier. "I'll deal with this if you wanna get back to helping Danny."

Wilcock eagerly excused himself and Sarah turned to Hemple. "Why don't you go with him? Abby can help me man the locking device."

"I was assigned to stay with you, Ma'am and, meaning no offence, Danny's authority is higher than yours."

"Danny and Wilcock are hunting dinosaurs and Abby and I are gonna have a girl talk. Who do you want to hang with?"

She saw by the way that Hemple's lips pursed that he was going to be stubborn on this one, even though he'd clearly rather leave. She sighed, "Look, I'll call Danny and get his permission."

The soldier nodded gratefully as Sarah did just that.

* * *

After Hemple had left, Sarah turned to her friend. "Alright, Abs, what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing," Abby responded quickly, avoiding Sarah's eyes. "What's with the questions? I'm just worried about changing things is all."

"Ah got it," Sarah said, knowing that it was clearly a lie, "but how do you know we aren't changing things by waiting. I know you don't want to here it, but maybe we put them through and maybe one of them _does _get eaten, and maybe the gorgonopsid that eats it would have starved to death if it wasn't for that morsel of food and maybe now it survives just long enough to step on another bug that would have eaten another snake that would've evolved into a mammal and therefore by feeding the gorgonopsid we're saving the human race. Who's to say that's not how it goes?"

Abby didn't respond.

"Look, Abs, as Hemple pointed out, we put tranquilized animals back all the time, it's what we do; obviously that's not what's bothering you. I think you're homesick and the creatures remind you of Rex and in turn home and Connor."

Abby's eyes suddenly started to water and she turned on Sarah, lashing out angrily, "Just shut up, Sare! It's none of you business anyway, is it? What's it matter if I miss them?! I'm allowed to miss them if I want to and it's your stupid Danny's fault if I'm upset! He's the one as wouldn't let Connor come!"

It was Sarah's turn to keep quiet, but she put her hand gently on Abby's shoulder and pretended that Abby'd _hadn't _called him _her _Danny for her own sanity; that was something to dwell on later.

Abby quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled at Sarah slightly sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Abby, no one's saying you're wrong to miss him, of course you do. I'd be concerned if you didn't."

"Hasn't been long enough," Abby muttered under her breath and then spoke slightly louder. "I shouldn't be _this _homesick this fast. It's driving me crazy. We've been apart for longer than this before. Really, it's not even been twenty-four hours yet. I think it's just that it's so… it's so _far, _Sare. I feel like if anything went wrong, I can't just get back there, you know."

Sarah gave her friend a hug. "I get it, Abs, I really do. Tell you what, I can't promise to keep an eye on the next few dozen of them, but I'll let these two little critters sit with me until they wake up before putting them through."

Abby smiled at that, "Thanks. I know it's silly, but I'd just feel better."

Sarah nodded, "Wilcock said you chatted with Hemple the whole way here. Why don't you head back to the hotel and try and get some sleep. Maybe give Connor a call and, you know, let him know you miss him."

"You think I should?"

"Course I do, because I guarantee he's missing you too, Abs. Just make sure you get one of the soldiers to walk you back."

Abby promised she would and scurried off in search of Wilcock.

* * *

Even though Abby had left to call Connor and collect herself a bit, Sarah opted to babysit the tranquilized lizards as they were brought to her, mainly out of loyalty to her friend. Soon though, she realised that it had been a mistake. It was difficult enough to unlock the anomaly while holding still two angry and waking flying lizards, and nearly impossible to throw them back through. One escaped again, and the other came back immediately. Or maybe it was a different new one coming through when the anomaly opened, Sarah didn't know. They all looked the same to her.

She cursed her luck under her breath and then proceeded to send through the seven other still sleeping lizards before they could wake up, not wanting to make the same mistake twice. She felt like she was betraying Abby, but she knew it couldn't be helped and she thought that even Abby would have understood had she been there still.

After the sleeping lizards were all through and the anomaly was locked again, Sarah began to grow bored. Night was getting deeper here, and she couldn't see very much at all, but the hot humidness hadn't lessened any further. She looked up to see if she could see any stars, but they were all blocked by pollution. Sarah sighed. Suddenly she became very aware that she was alone at night and at the same time she also became aware of the sounds near by: soft scuttling sounds, sniffing sounds. _Rats, _she thought to herself with a shudder. Of course there were rats with all the garbage here. One scurried past her and she leapt to her feet with a shriek that she quickly muffled. She didn't want Danny or one of the soldiers to overhear her and think she was a coward. She hated rats though, rats and insects. _How could this horrible place be Kajal's playground? _she wondered to herself.

Another movement caught the corner of her eye, this time coming from a large cardboard box close to the perimeter of the dump. This was bigger and Sarah found herself thinking that maybe it was one of the coelurosauruvus. She cautiously crept closer and realised that it wasn't a lizard at all. Rather a scruffy looking monkey sat staring back at her, nibbling at an apple core in its hand. Sarah smiled. Monkeys she could handle. She was about to turn back when yet another sound caught her attention. _Snoring! _With a jolt, Sarah realised that someone was sleeping inside the open cardboard box and in another startling moment she realised that there was an entire family squashed inside.

She tiptoed away so as not to wake them, but she noticed now that these make shift homes were everywhere, lining the perimeter of the dump. She hadn't noticed them before, because they looked like part of the knee deep garbage that made up the dump. Homes made of boxes or mud were everywhere, doors made of torn rags draped over some of the entrances, roofs made with dirt, straw or even just old stained clothing. Everyone was sleeping, they'd probably been up all day, working hard to scavenge up anything they could sell from beneath the trash, she knew how it went. Kajal had told her in her letters, but somehow seeing it in person felt different. She couldn't believe she'd been grumbling about the _weather _mere hours ago. She made her way back to her post by the locking device with tears in her eyes.

* * *

It was past midnight when Danny and the soldiers returned and said that they officially couldn't find any more flying lizards.

"It's far too dark here," Danny said. "We may as well head back to the hotel and get some sleep. We'll do better tomorrow when we've recharged. I sent Abby a text to let her know we're on our way so she doesn't try to meet us back here."

"Right," Sarah agreed. She glanced at the locked anomaly and crossed her fingers that it wouldn't disappear until they'd found the rest of the creatures, before packing up the locking device and taking it with her for safe keeping.

Immediately Wilcock reached to carry it for her and, too her surprise, Danny reached for her backpack.

She raised an eyebrow at him and he gave her a grin, "Just trying to be a gentleman." Then he grunted as he hoisted it over his shoulder. "What the hell did you bring with you, Sare? This thing weighs three times what mine does."

Sarah blushed, "Stuff."

"Stuff eh? Care to elaborate?"

She glanced at the soldiers and saw that they were walking ahead already, not paying attention to the banter of the two civilian employees, so she smiled at Danny and nodded. "Toys and clothes and stuff."

"For Kajal?"

"Yeah. In case she was here."

Danny draped his arm across her shoulder casually. "You've got a good heart, Sarah Page. Never change, yeah?"

She smiled back at him, said heart quickening at his touch as Abby's words from earlier, the ones about Danny, came rushing back to her. Another look at the soldiers told her that they were still paying more attention to the surroundings than to she and Danny. She took a deep breath and asked. "Danny? What did Abby mean earlier when she said you were the same with me as she was with Connor?"

He shrugged at her with the arm that wasn't touching her. "I guess she meant exactly what she said. I never told her anything, Sare, but seems my feelings for you were a bit more obvious than I thought."

Sarah bit her bottom lip and ducked her head a bit to hide her blush. So he wasn't even going to _try _and talk his way out of this one, not even a hint of denial. She found she liked that, she liked it a lot.

Danny held his breath, wondering what Sarah's reaction to his words would be. She wasn't protesting, nor was she pulling away, but she also wasn't replying and he could see it was because she was thinking hard about what to say.

Then suddenly she smiled and opened her mouth to respond, but right at that moment they were interrupted by a heavy thud, and then another.

Danny's face lit up with a grin and spun around to find the source. Then, calling to the soldiers who were doing the same thing, he pointed, "Scutosaurus due north! After it boys!"

The soldiers took off running and Danny hesitated a moment longer to give Sarah a peck on the cheek. "Things big but friendly. Get that anomaly ready to open again and we'll bring it to you."

"Danny?" Sarah said, catching his hand to hold him back a moment longer before dropping it again when he looked at her curiously. "Just, you know," she smiled at him. "Stay safe, yeah?"

He nodded and took off after Wilcock and Hemple.


End file.
